In an automobile rear vehicle body structure described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2011-207421 (Patent Document 1), pillar reinforcement is disposed inside a rear pillar, and a closed pillar cross-section is formed by the pillar reinforcement and a pillar inner panel (a roof-side inner). This thereby secures rigidity of the pillar reinforcement against an upthrust load from a rear suspension. Other related documents are: JP-A No. 2012-116408 (Patent Document 2), JP-A No. H10-218030 (Patent Document 3), and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (JP-U) No. H07-31573 (Patent Document 4).